Clearing His Conscience
by uniqueinkblots
Summary: Sometimes you can fix things the very same way you broke them. In an effort to apologize to Alex, Justin decides to make another video. Two-shot based on Episode: Wizard Of The Year.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Wizards of Waverly Place. If I did, the fourth season would be much better. ;)

* * *

><p>Justin rummaged through a box of miscellaneous items in the basement before finally pulling out the video camera. Though they had just used the camera last week, Harper had gone and haphazardly tossed it into some random box. She had assumed that the Russo family wouldn't be using it again for another couple of years.<p>

He had to admit: in her defense, it wasn't so unreasonable an assumption. His family generally didn't utilize their video camera. The last time it was used (excluding the Wizard of the Year drama) had been during his senior year experience phase, when he had insisted on recording every special moment.

But this time Harper happened to be incorrect. Justin mentally congratulated himself as he pulled out a fresh tape from the bottom of the box. He really did need the video camera. And this time not for the purpose of preserving his own precious memories or for the purpose of bashing up Alex. He had an absolutely genius plan that he was already proud of.

_The joys of being intelligent._

Who said creativity was defined by how well one could rhyme spells? He wasn't very good at that, he would reluctantly admit. But he sure was creative. Who said he was a boring old square? He deserved to be called interesting and creative for coming up with this scheme. At least this morning he did.

He checked his watch and smirked upon seeing it was only nine in the morning. Alex wouldn't be up till at least noon. He took a deep breath. He had plenty of time to get it right. He would shoot it over and over until he was satisfied with it. He owed her an apology, and he wanted it to be perfect. He could only hope that the damage could be rectified.

Justin winced as he remembered how good Alex was at holding a grudge. He sighed as he trudged up the stairs. That didn't really matter though – he had to at least make the effort.

A whole day had passed since the night of his idiocy, since the Wizard of the Year event. A whole day had passed since Justin had made a couple of mistakes. One a lot bigger than the other.

He blamed his temper and lack of control. Had he been able to control his anger, he would never have had said the things he did. Lying was hard, but when he concentrated, he could usually muster up something fairly believable. How difficult would it have been to pretend to be happy for Alex?

_Apparently, pretty difficult._

Justin's first mistake wasn't _feeling_ the way he did. Rather, it was actually _conveying _his emotions to the public. This had resulted in seriously embarrassing his entire family. From merely standing on the stage with the holographic version of himself, Justin could see the look of disapproval on his father's face.

Though honestly, he deserved a free pass on the whole embarrassment thing. His entire family was _very _embarrassing. They constantly caused awkward situations and unknowingly called attention to themselves. He generally didn't do any of that, so he didn't feel _too _bad. After all – there was a first time for everything right? He was nearly positive that someday he would be able to look back on that night without cringing. Hopefully.

The second mistake was way bigger though. Through that video, he had seriously humiliated Alex. And hurt her feelings too. She wasn't into openly expressing her emotions but he was pretty sure he had done some damage. And he felt terrible.

It wasn't that his sentiments were wrong. Alex didn't deserve the award, that much was true. It wasn't that his accusations were wrong either – the Wizard Council should have looked at the nominees more carefully before selecting her. They had been blinded by the whole Angel of Darkness situation and had carelessly awarded her a prestigious honor.

His outburst had been wrong though. He shouldn't have freaked out in the video. He should have just dealt with her later. Or maybe he shouldn't have even voiced his opinion at all. Justin scowled. The problem with being responsible was if you held it all in, eventually you snapped.

Just like he had.

It was normal to feel negatively about Alex's good fortune. Jealous. Furious. Bitter. Hurt.

In fact, mostly hurt. As Max had pointed out – she was being awarded for essentially fixing Justin's one mistake. That was like an extra blow. It just wasn't _fair_.

But just because it wasn't fair for him, didn't mean he had the right to be unfair back. Mad or not, he had no business contributing to ruining Alex's night. He could only imagine how overwhelmed she was with the Mason and Chase confusion. And on top of that, he certainly hadn't helped things.

All his initial rage had faded. He had spent the past day mulling over the video. He was ashamed. He felt so guilty about the way things had turned out – and now his conscience had the better of him. He was so disappointed in himself. Even though Justin knew that Alex didn't deserve the award, he couldn't help but wish he had genuinely been happy for her. He wanted to be proud of her, the way he used to be. They way he should have been.

Justin frowned. But everyone makes mistakes, right? Alex made mistakes all the time. Granted – since she frequently made them, each one wasn't as big as his. But that didn't mean he couldn't fix this.

_Sometimes you can fix things the very same way you broke them. Time to apologize and stop letting the Wizard Competition mess with my head. Come on Justin, you can do this. Remember Aunt Megan and the retest? Family first. Always._

He took a deep breath and pressed record.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I was very disappointed with the Wizard of the Year episode and would have liked to see it end differently. Everyone just seemed so off.

I was initially planning this as a simple one-shot but I think it may become too long so I decided to split it up into two parts. I haven't written the second half yet, but I kind of know where I want to go.

However – I'd love to hear how you guys think it should end and what you all think in general. So please review! :)

If I get opinions and advice, I'll do my best to take all that into account. And if not, I'll just finish it as planned and put the second part up as soon as possible.

Hope you like it so far - thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **First of all – to anyone who may be following this: thanks for being patient! I spent the majority of last week visiting family who just so happen to live high in the mountains. It was beautiful, but it lacked proper network access. So I apologize for the wait.

Second – thank you dolpher and iheartdisney128 for reviewing! Very much appreciated. :) An additional thanks to dolpher again for pointing out that Justin was embarrassed at his actions because he was worried about how the video would affect his chances of getting back in the competition. This is an angle that I completely missed while focusing on only the family aspect. I tried to rectify that in the second part, so thanks for pointing it out!

Done rambling. Hope you enjoy the rest!

* * *

><p>Alex was ticked. She flopped on the couch, still completely annoyed. She had spent the last day sulking in her room, very nearly breaking her pout record.<p>

When she had gotten really bored, she had flashed to the basement to talk to Harper. She was probably the only one who understood. After all – she had been the only one genuinely proud of her.

But how long was Alex expected to go on without access to the television? She stubbornly settled herself across the couch and scowled. This was her house too. She was angry, but it wasn't worth her missing her favorite shows.

Alex sighed as the commercials began and let her mind wander.

It hurt. All the events of that evening hurt. But losing Mason was the worst. Alex sniffled and wiped away the tears that threatened to fall. How could he not have trusted her? She couldn't be with him after that. Breaking up had been the right thing to do.

_Together forever. Yeah, right._

But honestly, Alex was more annoyed than anything else. Besides Mason, Justin had turned out to be another problem. What was wrong with him? Where had that stupid video come from? Alex didn't think her brother had it in him. And frankly, she wasn't happy to learn that he did. She was going to get some serious revenge when she got around to it.

Alex stared mindlessly at the screen, not really paying attention, even though her show had returned. There was just too much on her mind. God, she hated thinking.

Justin got mad at her often. What was new there? But he had never been angry enough to _sabotage _her. The only really mean and out of character things she'd ever seen him do was when he was under the influences of Rosie. The video certainly topped all of that.

Alex was well aware that he would apologize though. It was simply his nature. But she couldn't really forget that the only reason he had tried to stop the video was to protect his own image. He had tried to cover his words up because he wanted to look good. For himself.

He probably really did feel bad now though. Justin was like that. He regretted any impulsive action. He was such a dork.

Alex was still mad though. Only she got to do irresponsible things and create messes. It was common behavior coming from her.

Coming from him? Alex hated it.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Justin entered the living room. He gave her a tentative smile before sitting beside her. "Ah, so you're still alive," he commented lightly, resting his feet on the coffee table. He was of course referring to her shutting herself up in her room.

Alex glared at him. It would be impossible to ignore him with him sitting so close. "Very funny," she retorted.

"Thanks," Justin grabbed the remote from her hands and changed the TV mode.

Alex glowered. "Okay, no. You do _not _get to take the remote after your antics. Give that back."

"No. And by the way, nice use of the word antics," Justin grinned a cheeky smile so much like her own and raised the remote high above his head.

_His mischievous side comes out after all these years? Unbelievable._

"You are so infuriating! How do you like _that _word?" Alex jumped up to reach for the remote. This was not okay. He had some serious nerve, initiating a remote battle instead of begging for forgiveness.

"Very impressive, actually. I like the word a lot," Justin replied. He gasped as he saw her getting ready for the tackle. Apparently, she was about to lose it. He had to act fast. "No Alex, what are you doing?" He quickly dodged to a side and hit the play button, successfully distracting Alex.

Her eyes widened as a holographic version of Justin was cast over the living room. It began to speak.

"Alex, you won Wizard of the Year. I never really congratulated you, so I'd like to belatedly tell you good job. And I also owe you something else," the holographic Justin paused before continuing. "I owe you an apology. I'm sorry for messing up the congratulatory video and embarrassing you like I did. I did have a problem with you winning. I was really jealous. But that doesn't justify what I did, and for that I'm sorry."

Alex waited, albeit impatiently. Knowing Justin, he would have more to say.

"But I'm more sorry for not being proud of you. I'm not saying that you deserve the award. Honestly, I'm still not sure about that. But I _am_ saying that you were right about the Wizard Competition getting between all of us. In the end, it's not worth losing family," the holographic Justin said. "Since the first video contained an angry rant, the second video naturally had to contain a heartfelt apology. I hope this was okay. Again, I'm sorry," he ended sincerely.

Justin stared at Alex a little anxiously and hit the stop button. He wracked his mind for the right words. But as usual, she beat him to it.

"Well, you succeeded. That was pretty heartfelt. In fact, that was _really _cheesy," Alex wrinkled her nose before giving him a reluctant smile.

She _did _have a heart after all. Alex wasn't planning on forgiving him so quickly, but this was so nice of him. And so typically Justin. Alex liked what he had said. The prospect of having him back appealed to her. She wanted to be closer to him, like before. And Justin had pretty much promised that he wouldn't go crazy over the competition anymore. She liked the sound of that. Enough to forgive him even.

She studied her brother carefully. Justin stood with regret clearly written all over his face. But also with hope. He knew she was going to let him slide. Alex shrugged. He had always been smart.

She searched for the appropriate words to break the silence again, but came up short.

Justin surprised her and made the first move. He reached over to wrap her in a hesitant hug and whispered a quiet thanks. She returned it, and suddenly it felt like that evening in the lair again. The evening she restored the moral compass. Alex smiled and hugged him a little tighter. She was content.

As she was getting older, Alex was getting better at this whole letting go of a grudge thing. She was so happy to be in sync with Justin again, that she wasn't holding onto her anger like she normally would.

All the same, Alex made a mental note to destroy a comic book or two. That would make them completely even.

Justin let go of her and seated himself on the couch once more. He didn't repeatedly apologize like he normally did. Generally, when he felt guilty, it completely consumed him to the point of apologizing to no end.

This time was different though. For once, his first apology had felt like enough. All the guilt had faded. His conscience was clear.

All the same, Justin made a mental note to find his pad of sticky notes and write a reminder to the effect of being a better brother. That would make them completely even.

He grinned as he realized Alex had gone back to her show, as if nothing had even happened. Classic Alex. He reached over and snatched the remote from Alex's hands. She glared, and the bickering ensued.

They were back to square one again, and everything was all right.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Finished. Honestly, I'm not completely satisfied with this, but in my mind it still beats the episode's ending. So I suppose I got my peace of mind.

Hope you liked it! Please review – it's nice to hear from people! :)


End file.
